


This Is Why There Are So Few Christmas Episodes

by ImmediatelyWriting



Category: Gintama
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Christmas Special, Could Be Canon, Gen, Mentioned Hasegawa, Mentioned Otose, Mentioned Sadaharu, Mentioned Shinpachi, Odd Jobs and Co, One Shot, Short, Short One Shot, Yorozuya Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28192137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmediatelyWriting/pseuds/ImmediatelyWriting
Summary: This year, Gin hadn’t heard of any anime planning to do a Christmas special. Even Gintama slacked off this winter!No Christmas episode for Odd Jobs and co.
Kudos: 3





	This Is Why There Are So Few Christmas Episodes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> Merry Christmas!  
> I'm going to keep this short;  
> Just enjoy this little Christmas special, no matter what time of year it may be when you read this I've tried my best to get you in the Christmas spirit anyway!
> 
> Love, Noa <3

_Why do so many anime not have a Christmas episode?_

That was the question that Gintoki asked himself while he was staring at his living room’s ceiling.

This year, at the time everyone needed Christmas specials more than anything, Gin hadn’t heard of any anime planning to do one.

Nor were there any announcements of manga or comics getting a volume dedicated to the most famous holiday this winter, which would mean Gin would have the grimmest Christmas so far. It would be even worse than the cold winters Gin had spend fighting during the Joui War; at least they did something to celebrate Christmas back then, like soaking their clothes in crimson.

He had thought about re-watching some specials of earlier years, because there surely had to be some he hadn’t watched yet, right? Wrong!

At that moment, when Gin closed his eyes and tried to think of all the anime that had done a good Christmas special in the past, he realized that he could remember only few.

Of course, there had been many episodes where one of the unimportant side-characters made a comment that suggested that it should be sometime around Christmas, or things like seeing a Christmas tree or someone wearing a Santa outfit could tell you that the holiday was being held. Yet, those episodes wouldn’t have anything to do with Christmas itself, which just made it another normal episode.

They were just build up that way so they could be watched at any time of the year, because how many people actually watched Christmas episodes on Christmas?

But that’s not the point of a Christmas special; it shouldn’t be less Christmas-y just so people can watch it whenever. It has to be fully dedicated to Christmas and make people feel like they’re celebrating the holiday even when they’re watching the special in the middle of summer.

Like this; you’re probably reading this nowhere near Christmas, but it doesn’t matter because you’ll still feel like it’s December and time to celebrate.

All Gin wanted was something to do as Christmas got closer, to get in the good spirit for the holiday they only celebrated once a year. But he had already seen all the real Christmas specials and it was not like stores would sell old manga volumes just so people had something festive to read.

Gin was annoyed and maybe a little sad, but most of all confused about the absence of the fun and heartwarming short stories about setting up trees, buying people presents and drinking so much that your hangover lasted at least a week. Who didn’t love to see their favorite characters get all cute and clingy with friends or family while they eat enough to last them for an entire year?

Wondering what Kagura and Shinpachi were planning to do for their special this year, Gin got up and dragged himself all the way to Kagura’s room. Even though it was already three in the afternoon, the redhead was still lost in deep dreams.

Her eyes were closed and she snored so calmly as she slept; almost too precious to wake up.

_Almost,_ Gin thought to himself as he poked Kagura’s side with his bare feet over and over again, until Kagura finally showed a sign of life; being that she grabbed Gin’s foot and literally swept him off his feet.

“What the heck!” she shrieked. “Hasn’t anyone taught you not to wake up a sleeping beauty?”

“That’s not how the story goes.” Gin rolled his eyes and got back on his feet again. “Plus, Sleeping Beauty was cursed. You just randomly sleep until late for no reason.”

“Says the guy that sometimes sleeps through an entire day,” Kagura mumbled, pulling the blankets over her head. “Anyway, just let me sleep. After all, it’s not like we’re doing anything today.”

Gin felt like leaving now, just because Kagura probably couldn’t answer his question anyway, but he was determined to know about their own Christmas special. Thus, he put his hand on his waist and, in a deep and convincing voice, he asked, “What are the plans for Christmas?”

Kagura moaned before mumbling, “Hasn’t Shinpachi told you?”

“Told me what?” Gin’s heart was racing inside of his chest, almost like it was going to explode.

“They decided to cancel the Christmas special this year.”

At that moment, Gin’s heart shattered into a million pieces.

Christmas got closer and closer, and with every hour that passed, Gin’s heart shattered more and more; even they weren’t planning to do a Christmas special this year.

Why? Gin had no idea.

Shinpachi said it would be too much work, and Gin could understand why he’d say that. Doing another Christmas special would mean they’d have to come up with something fun to do yet again, and then there’s designing the outfits that have be done when you do a Christmas special; no, Shinpachi’s glasses shouldn’t be the same color with Christmas, they should at least have a festive color like green or red, maybe both if they want to make it real special.

Kagura just liked Christmas for the food, and it was not like she got more to eat than on an ordinary day; if anything she got less, because they’d be with more people than usual.

And both Hasegawa and Otose said it would cost too much money and that a Christmas without presents and food wouldn’t be Christmas to begin with. Great amounts of food would have to be bought and presents didn’t just come falling from the sky unless you’re a small kid.

But still, even though everything about an extra episode costs lots of time and money, Gin was convinced that they could at least spend some time to give them the twenty minutes of a holiday that everyone pretended to love though everyone secretly hates it more than anything.

He needed this; it was part of the month December.

And even now, when one entire Christmas day had already gone by and passed, Gin still didn’t understand why they had canceled Christmas this year.

No matter how much everyone, especially Gin, hated Christmas, it felt like breaking tradition to completely skip it. Normally, when they didn’t celebrate it big, they would eat snacks, or get presents for each other, or watch some new specials with all of Odd Jobs and friends.

Now, they wouldn’t even have that.

Thus, Gin’s Christmas was ruined and lying on the floor with a drink was all he could possibly do. And even though the rough pattern of the carpet had permanently marked his butt and the fact that he had only alcohol-free drinks lying around made him feel even more miserable, Gin couldn’t get up to do something; anything that’d make today feel more festive.

What was there to get up for anyway? Shinpachi would be at his sister’s for these two days and Kagura had been out taking Sadaharu for a walk for almost three hours already.

He took another gulp of his fizzy apple cider, closing his eyes as he gargles it in his mouth out of pure boredom. It’s when he heard a loud voice right beside his ear that he accidently inhaled the gulp of his tasteless non-alcoholic beverage and immediately felt the bubbles pass through his nose.

He coughed and tried not to suffocate while the redhead standing beside him burst into laughter.

Gin let out strained coughs as he tried not to faint; now his Christmas had truly hit rock bottom, he was going to choke and die and all he could think of is how he didn’t even get to celebrate Christmas.

It was a tragic story – probably in Gin’s top three worst ways to die.

Just as he was about to draw his last breath, Kagura saved him; thankfully, she’d never heard of CPR, so Gin came out with at least _some_ of his dignity intact. No, she kneeled down and gave Gin a good pat on the back, probably bruised his shoulder in the process.

It was what she did afterwards that really saved Gin’s life, and his Christmas too.

“Here,” Kagura said, giving Gin something he hadn’t expected to see this year. “It’s not much, but we thought...”

Gin looked at the little present; it wasn’t heavy or big and it was packed in old newspapers that were slightly wet for reasons unknown. It was for him, it was a present for him and him alone.

He unpacked his special present, revealing a DVD. It “Christmas Specials” was written on the front in red, curvy letters and the description told Gin that this little disk was holding the best anime Christmas specials ever seen by the public.

“ _Really?_ ” Gin shrieked, happiness overflowing as he hugged the DVD. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He looked up to see Kagura glaring at him, slightly weirded-out, so he cleared his throat and said, “Uh, I mean… It’s not like I needed them, but we could watch them together. I guess.”

Kagura smiled and nodded cheerfully while throwing herself onto the couch.

Gin couldn’t be more happy, unable to wait to slide the disk into the—

“Arghh!” Gin screamed, throwing the disk across the room in anger. “This couldn’t get any worse!”

Defeated and depressed, Gin collapsed on the floor.

Oh, if only they’d had a DVD-player…

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> I hope this got you in the Christmas spirit!  
> (heck I typed out Christmas like a thousand times in this short story; writing Chrsitmas sucks <\-- see???)
> 
> Anyway, merry Christmas again and I hope every one of us will have an amazing 2021!  
> Stay healthy and happy and try not to choke on your apple cider this year, okay?
> 
> Love, Noa <3


End file.
